Canada’s Prince Edward Island is home to one of the oldest and
most vibrant fiddling traditions in North America. First
established by Scottish immigrants in the late eighteenth century,
it incorporated the influence of a later wave of Irish immigrants
as well as the unique rhythmic sensibilities of the Acadian French,
the Island’s first European inhabitants. In Couldn’t Have a
Wedding without the Fiddler, renowned musician and folklorist Ken
Perlman combines oral history, ethnography, and musical insight to
present a captivating portrait of Prince Edward Island fiddling and
its longstanding importance to community life. Couldn’t Have a
Wedding without the Fiddler draws heavily on interviews conducted
with 150 fiddlers and other “Islanders”—including singers,
dancers, music instructors, community leaders, and event
organizers—whose memories span decades. The book thus colorfully
brings to life a time not so very long ago when virtually any
occasion—a wedding, harvest, house warming, holiday, or the need
to raise money for local institutions such as schools and
churchs—was sufficient excuse to hold a dance, with the fiddle
player at the center of the celebration. Perlman explores how
fiddling skills and traditions were learned and passed down through
the generations and how individual fiddlers honed their distinctive
playing styles. He also examines the Island’s history and
material culture, fiddlers’ values and attitudes, the role of
radio and recordings, the fiddlers’ repertoire, fiddling
contests, and the ebb and flow of the fiddling tradition, including
efforts over the last few decades to keep the music alive in the
face of modernization and the passing of “old-timers.” Rounding
out the book is a rich array of photographs, musical examples,
dance diagrams, and a discography. The inaugural volume in the
Charles K. Wolfe American Music Series, Couldn’t Have a Wedding
without the Fiddler is, in the words of series editor Ted Olson,
“clearly among the more significant studies of a local North
American music tradition to be published in recent years.”
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